Time for another monthly music post! It honestly feels last minute that I’m writing about this because the month has been quite chaotic despite the light course load, but I can only imagine how worse it would be if I was taking this semester what I already passed last year.
But enough of that, it’s better to write things here to put my mind off of the stressful world. This month’s songs feel like the opposite of August: they’re about bigger events that September had to offer, along with a few odd ones out that were just stuff in my head, so shall we?
5. Within Temptation – A Demon’s Fate
When I first discovered the band’s album The Unforgiving, it was the song Where Is The Edge that was my jam, and now, this one is. I feel like this is the darkest and most epic song on the album and it’s always the fast melody that gets me, but what gets me even more than that part is the bridge where it slows down with Sharon’s voice in the background, and the riffs with each beat of the drums before the solo starts. I think it’s safe to say that this song surpasses what was originally my first favourite! When I first started listening to it, I pictured Shan Yu fighting his way through the palace of the Imperial City with me, so I used the song as the score for the chapter in The Warlord’s Prize where that happens. Now, the song suddenly makes me think of Ares and the sudden shift must be from watching Wonder Woman. Funny how nothing makes me pay attention to mythology until it is used in a movie. I can just picture Ares in armor with a cape as he rides into battle and I am singing atop a ledge in a battlefield. I know, it has nothing to do with demons, but my imagination is willing to go beyond what the lyrics in a song say.
4. Megadeth – Symphony of Destruction
Yep, I have to put a Megadeth song in here after checking them off my concert bucket list. So, why not start with the first song by them that I heard? I’d say, if you weren’t around when the band first formed, in my opinion, it is likely you will either hear a song from Countdown to Extinction, or Rust in Peace first. (To be honest I almost picked a song from that album since its anniversary was recent, but nothing beats the first song I came to like). It was no surprise they played it live, and I never look at the set list before any concert I go to, even if I know that it is factual that certain songs I like will be played. I like to be surprised. Like any Megadeth song, many of them have a political message behind them. You don’t have to like that part of their music if you don’t want to. Some people like the political part of it, but for me, no matter the message in any Megadeth song; if it sounds metal to me, then that’s all that matters. This song is a classic to me and always will be.
3. Epica – Dancing in a Hurricane
This is probably one of my favourite Epica songs of all time that comes in second place to Tides of Time. I feel like it wasn’t until this album came out, that I really took a chance to explore this band, and it was this song that sparked that moment for me. It sounds so dark and mysterious and most Epica songs are usually fast-paced or slow and enchanting. This song is sort of on its own in a way and that’s why I was so happy to hear it live. All I see in my mind is myself singing and dancing in a meadow where the wind blows and a thunderstorm rages above without the rain. I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again, this song still reminds me of Lewa with the strong winds blowing in a storm and it makes me feel like I’m taking off into that stormy sky to soar somewhere far away. I felt like I was screaming the lyrics more than I was singing them when I heard them (minus Mark’s part hahaha), but that’s what you do when you love a song so much and it’s played live.
2. DragonForce – Cry Thunder
This song has been in and out of my head the past few weeks. I knew about DragonForce years ago, and everyone should know them for that one song they have on Guitar Hero. I love me some power metal and they are the most well known band in that genre. I remember there was one night where I decided to explore some of their songs. This was on of them. I think this song fits the exact definition of a battle cry song. It makes me think of Dany on Drogon riding into battle with her Dothraki, it could also be Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans in Thermopylae, or Ares and his army to..well….wherever (I have to read some Greek mythology). This is such a powerful song, and it’s one that I can walk to and feel like I have power and am leading soldiers into battle. That’s the beauty of power metal at its finest.
1. Tony Jay – Hellfire
Note: The song is at a different pitch to avoid copyright infringement. Nothing beats Disney! NOTHING! MUAHAHAHA!!!! *ahem* Yeah, Hellfire is definitely my number one this month because I finally got to go to Fan Expo this year after many times I said I’d go, but got too busy to bother. I was able to cosplay as Frollo again which is one of my favourite things to do. I have not loved dressing up as a character this much since I was Arwen from LOTR and as I have said, Frollo is a character that speaks to me in a way, even if we are nothing alike. I’m always practicing this song when I’m alone, but it’s so hard to hit certain notes: I go back and forth between high and low and it sounds awkward, but I’m not Tony Jay so I’ll just have to find a pitch that works for me. My time cosplaying as Frollo gets better at every opportunity, and whenever I feel my inner Lady Frollo unleashing itself, that’s when I start listening to songs that make me think of him, including this. Screw Be Prepared, this is definitely the darkest Disney song out there, and it deserves more recognition. One of my friends who predicted I had a crush on Frollo before I realized I did, he said to me “He can sing too! Who doesn’t love a man who would sing a song about you with such passion?” That’s another thing I love about this song, how passionate it sounds, even if it’s also a sign of insanity from the lust. If you look past that part, it could be about passionate love.
There you have it, another set of songs for the month. It’s nice to have September be so eventful after August didn’t have much happening, so I’m looking forward to see what October holds besides Halloween!
👽Emily
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